First case of highly drug-resistant TB found in UShttp://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1261931770
It started with a cough, an autumn hack that refused to go away.
Then came the fevers. They bathed and chilled the skinny frame of Oswaldo Juarez, a 19-year-old Peruvian visiting to study English. His lungs clattered, his chest tightened and he ached with every gasp. During a wheezing fit at 4 a.m., Juarez felt a warm knot rise from his throat. He ran to the bathroom sink and spewed a mouthful of blood....
Doctors say Juarez's incessant hack was a sign of what they have both dreaded and expected for years -- this country's first case of a contagious, aggressive, especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The Associated Press learned of his case, which until now has not been made public, as part of a six-month look at the soaring global challenge of drug resistance.
Juarez's strain -- so-called extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB -- has never before been seen in the U.S....